Which hose should be long when using pony?

[MechDiver]

PhilD once bubbled...


I'm good at confusing myself, so I shouldn't be suprised if I confuse others too

Yes, I have the pony mounted on a Quick Draw bracket on my main tank. I have the primary reg coming off the main tank and the octo coming off the pony, nothing else. This is what my LDS recommended, even though I wanted to keep the octo on the main tank and have a seperate octo on the pony, which is most probably what I will end up doing, I think.

What I'm trying to do right now is get everything right, so I don't end up continually changing things. This is what I am thinking of doing; changing the hose on my primary reg to a 5', I have a spare R290 octo which I was thinking would become the octo off the main tank on a short hose, the pony octo hose is 40", (I thought it was 36", but just measured it and it is 40").

Nearly all my diving is OW ocean diving and I have no plans for any overhead environment stuff.

Hope that makes more sense.

Your LDS is stupid. You may quote me on that

Your idea of changing your system to a long hose and necklaced second (in this configuration it is no longer and "octo") is good. You still have a problem with the hard-mounted pony and what to do with the hose so the system is usable. What happens if you forget to turn on the pony and try to use it? Where is that third reg going to be?
Get the sucker off your backgas and sling it.

Your LDS is stupid. Oh, I already said that.

MD

 

[Boogie711]

that your LDS is stupid.

Oh - he already said that.

Get a long hose, bungee your backup (not an 'octo') under your neck, and sling the pony bottle. You can bungee or innertube the regulator to the stage bottle just like a stage, so it's out of the way.

Or, do what I prefer, which is e-bay the pony and practice proper gas management.

 

[PhilD]

Thanks, I figured my LDS was not giving me the right advice. I'm new to diving, so have a lot to learn and I'm learning that a LDS is not necessarily the best place to learn from.

The reasoning for the pony was two fold; a/ I prefer not to leave my life in someone elses hands and like the concept of a redundant system, (maybe this will change with time though), and b/ my ANDI CSU instructor, who also does a lot of technical diving, brought up several scenarios where a pony would be better and they made sense to me. Like I said I'm learning and trying to learn the right way to start with, but it is sometimes difficult with different (wrong) advice from different people.

Thanks for all the input, I feel a little clearer in what I'm doing.

BTW Where do I get a neck bungee from, or can I make one?

 

[MechDiver]

PhilD once bubbled...
Thanks, I figured my LDS was not giving me the right advice. I'm new to diving, so have a lot to learn and I'm learning that a LDS is not necessarily the best place to learn from.

BTW Where do I get a neck bungee from, or can I make one?

Althought an LDS can be nice to have around, they can also be very self-serving. Something to keep in mind.

I have nothing against pony bottles. But, I also feel if you're going to use one, you should do so in a way to get the most benefit from it.

You can make a necklace from 1/8" bungie, or surgical tubing. I prefer the small bungie. Have the reg hand below your chin, low enought to keep out of your way, but close enough to reach easily. There are a couple ways to attach the bungie that should be described in the tek sections here.

MD

 

[Karl_in_Calif]

MechDiver once bubbled...


Your LDS is stupid. You may quote me on that

The owner or manager of the dive shop that recommended this peculiar configuration to you, Phil, sounds like he/she learned to dive about 50 years ago and has not dived since.

Back then, everyone had only one 2nd stage regulator, called a "mouthpiece," attached to their 1st stage regulator. That was the pre-octo era. The back mounted pony with its own regulator and 2nd stage "mouthpiece" was viewed as a backup in case your 72 cu ft steel tank drained faster than you did the clock calcuations for.

72 cu ft / 0.75 cu ft per min / X ATAs at MOD = max dive time at planned depth.

This was before SPGs were even invented. Your diving watch was your only gauge.

Octo's came along a little later. The octo is an additional 2nd stage connected to your 1st stage regulator, available to your diving buddy for air sharing, to preclude the need for buddy breathing off the same 2nd stage.

The Octo was called the octo because with all the hoses attached to the regulator, like the primary 2nd stage hose, the octo 2nd stage hose, the B/C LP inflator hose, etc, it now made the regulator system now look like an octopus. Eventually the name octo stuck for the secondary 2nd stage itself.

A pony bottle does NOT work as an octo. You need a regular octo attached to your primary 1st stage regulator. This then allows your buddy access to half your gas in your back tank, in case of an air sharing emergency.

There is not enough air in a pony bottle for it to serve as an octo for an out of air diver in an emergency. You still need to do a safety stop in an OOA emergency of a buddy, and the pony will not work for this, unless its a huge pony, which I am sure it is not.

I would take MechDivers advice and possibly also look around town for a few more dive stores, and see what they have to offer. It seems like you found a cuckoo.


cuck·oo

noun (plural cuck·oos)

1. birds: bird laying in others’ nests: a European songbird that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds who bring the nestlings up as their own. Latin name Cuculus canorus.

2. birds: related bird: a bird related to the European cuckoo

3. birds: cuckoo’s call: the characteristic two-note call of the European cuckoo

4. eccentric person: somebody who is very eccentric, strange, or extremely unconventional ( informal )